OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE What do the writings of Baruch Spinoza, a remote, 17th century Dutch philosopher of Dutch philosopher of Jewish Portuguese origins, have to say about the predicaments of the 21st century? A lot, because the fanaticisms that he faced alone in his time have multiplied in ours. The fanaticism of his times provoked religious wars; the current
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE Perhaps never, in its almost 135 years of history, had the Mexican town of San José de Gracia become national news, as it did back in March of this year, when social networks spread the execution of a group of people in the old revolutionary way: on a wall, in front of a platoon. But the
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE The Catholic Church has raised its critical voice on the distressing issue of crime in Mexico, all in good time. The call prompted me to talk with my friend, the Catholic poet Julio Hubard, about the ethical responsibility of the state to defend its citizens. Enrique Krauze: The government has wanted to surround the “hugs, not
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE A nuclear power invades a small, sovereign nation. The world is witness to this unjust war, minute-by-minute, image-after-image: relentless bombardments against the civilian population, harrowing testimonies, mass exoduses, scenes of indescribable pain. That alone should arouse unanimous repudiation of the aggressor and unrestricted support for the victim. But that is not the case. A current of
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE Redemptorist leaders, daffodils in love with their self-proclaimed moral beauty, are not responsible for the consequences of their actions. This ironclad truth was the subject of “Politics as a Vocation,” a famed conference offered by German sociologist Max Weber in January 1919 in Munich . His words then reverberate in our current time. The circumstances when
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE Former Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos was visiting a capital in the southeast of the country. As he got off the plane, the governor showed him the eight columns of a local newspaper that criticized the president. “What is this idiot (an obesity was actually used instead of the word “idiot”) thinking?” said López Mateos in
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OPINION By ENRIQUE KRAUZE Even though this is something that happened a few weeks ago, it is an issue that I don’t want to let go by unmentioned: Anti-Semitism has reappeared in Mexico’s public life, instigated by the powers that be. And the subject deserves a cautionary reflection. “The day there is not a single Jew left in the world,
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